Like any great Detroit DJ, Frankie Bank$' loft is his home away from the road. You're just as likely to find him in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, spinning to huge crowds, as you are to find him crashed in his spartan but stylish crib after a night at the Old Miami — or after a day managing his family's restaurant, Compari's on the Park, in bucolic Plymouth.
Bank$' off-the-wall, high-energy sets are all over the musical map. In the course of 10 minutes, he'll transition from Baltimore club, French electro and ghetto tech to ridiculous pop, doing it all seamlessly to keep the dance floor in a state of constant throwdown.
The former Columbia College of Chicago film student is currently finishing mixes for his full-length debut, Sand in the Suntan Lotion. Not surprisingly, outrageous classics-in-waiting such as "Tony Danza," "Meet Me at the Old Miami" and "Xanax Wizard" take advantage of absurd snippets of classic movie dialog (along with Bank$' equally awesome and absurd rhyming) dropped on top of in-your-face, Escalade-rattling electro beats.
Rumor has it Bank$ has a yacht docked at the Detroit Yacht Club that looks like it's out of Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'" video — we're talking a Jacuzzi, a jellyfish tank by the circular bed, baby tigers and a refrigerator stocked with Grey Goose.
And doing nothing to dispel the rumors, Bank$ refers to his unassuming city pad as "just a little place to stay when I'm not on the yacht."
Frankie Bank$ spins every Thursday at Cake at the Old Miami (3930 Cass Ave., Detroit) and every Friday at Sloppy Seconds at Northern Lights Lounge (660 W. Baltimore St. in Detroit). You can also catch Frankie Bank$ at 4 p.m. Friday, July 4, at the Pure Detroit Stage at Comerica Cityfest.
